Two Orangeburg cemeteries’ parent company accepted money from customers for grave markers but failed to pay the memorial vendor, a former local office manager says.

Christy Thornton of Swansea says she quit her position at Crestlawn and Belleville Memorial Gardens in May because she was asked to lie to families in order to keep her job.

“I walked out and left my keys with my assistant. They have even denied my unemployment benefits, although I’m appealing,” Thornton said. “I quit mostly because it was so devastating for me to see a family come crying. Morally, I couldn’t do it any more.”

Thornton said payment for the markers was supposed to come from parent company Mike W. Graham & Associates of Houston, Texas.

“I would order the markers from the vendor and the vendor would send back an acknowledgement,” Thornton said. “The vendor would cancel the orders three months later due to non-payment. I can tell you there have been problems with markers here for the last 2-1/2 years.”

Thornton also says the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation regularly audited Crestlawn and Belleville. She says LLR also warned the company about a leaking mausoleum roof that needed repair.

LLR spokesman Jim Knight said in an e-mail that his agency has received complaints about Crestlawn.

“All we have on the two businesses are current complaints we are investigating,” Knight said. “Because the cases are open, there is nothing that is public at this time. I have nothing prior to now.”

Current Crestlawn and Belleville Memorial Gardens Office Manager Jennifer Smith declined comment on the matter. She referred all questions to Gail Whietes, who Smith identified as her supervisor at Plantation Memorial Gardens in Moncks Corner.

Whietes says Thornton was fired from her position. She also noted Graham & Associates has had major challenges in the past year since the owner died, but she declined to elaborate on what those challenges are.

“It will take us some time to fix everything,” Whietes said. “We are not sure why it has gotten to this point, but we are doing everything to fix and correct these problems. We want to focus on making certain that all of our families are taken care of.”

Whietes also said the company owns other cemeteries in South Carolina, although she wouldn’t say how many. Additional phone messages to Whietes seeking comment on Thornton’s claims were not returned.

The South Carolina Secretary of State’s Office lists Don Hughes of Columbia as the registered agent for Crestlawn Memorial Gardens LLC, Belleville Memorial Gardens LLC and MWG Services-South Carolina LLC.

After a local employee confirmed he deals with them, The Times and Democrat requested through Crestlawn and Belleville that a phone message be relayed to Hughes. He did not make contact with The T&D.

Attempts to locate contact information for Graham & Associates in Houston were unsuccessful.

Since an original story about grave markers was published Sept. 27, others have contacted The Times and Democrat concerning similar difficulties obtaining markers through Crestlawn and Belleville.

Lyn Crosland of Lone Star says she paid $3,449 for her father’s marker Jan. 27. The check cleared the following day.

“They said it would take a long time to deliver, about six months,” Crosland said. “I called back on Sept. 18, the date they said it would be delivered,” Crosland said. “I was told they couldn’t find a copy of the order. When I called again (Sept. 25), they said the order had been found. The date on my copy of the marker proof indicated it wasn’t sent until Sept. 21.”

Carrie Houser James wanted something special for her daughter, Gabrielle James, after she died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma last November. Gabrielle was buried at Belleville with her great-grandmother and grandparents.

Gabrielle, who would have turned 35 last Sunday, enjoyed sewing, basketball and Elmo -- she got a new Elmo toy every Christmas. So James had her daughter’s marker designed with a sewing machine, basketball and Elmo.

James says she’s been calling and calling the Belleville office, but no one calls her back. A family friend finally put a temporary marker on the grave so out-of-town visitors could find it.

And then James learned others were having the same problem.

“I thought it was because I was ordering special stuff, maybe that’s why it took so long,” she said.

James said she’ll continue to pursue the issue.

“I’ll keep calling until I get some satisfaction, which is a headstone. ... She was a fighter, if you know what I mean, and I think she would expect I would be doing this at this moment,” James said.

Louella Cleckley of Orangeburg says she acted as an agent on behalf of Pastor Betty C. Koger of Columbia when her friend’s husband, Bishop Jack Koger, was buried at Belleville in January.

“I ordered markers from them in 1974 and dealt with them again in 1997 when my mother passed,” Cleckley said. “I had no problems then. Because of that, I recommended Belleville to (Koger).

“I feel bad about this because they haven’t done what they said they would do. They have kept giving us the runaround.”

Orangeburg County Magistrate Willie Robinson Jr. said a claim and delivery against Crestlawn Belleville Memorial Gardens Inc. seeking merchandise or money was issued Sept. 16 in Koger’s name. Cleckley confirmed Wednesday the subpoena hadn’t been served.

In response to a South Carolina Freedom of Information Act request, Orangeburg County Chief Magistrate Samuel Daily said two civil cases have been filed against Crestlawn since June 2008 and one is pending.

A fax from Deputy Summary Court Administrator Tina Pendarvis noted the first lawsuit was filed June 23 and settled on July 28.

Graham & Associates has also been the subject of legal action taken by Kansas and Mississippi against company-owned cemeteries in those states.

Ashley P. Anstaett, director of communications for Kansas Attorney General Steve Six, provided The Times and Democrat with the February 2009 settlement agreement between Six’s office and co-defendants Mike Graham & Associates LLC and West Lawn Memorial LLC of Topeka, Kan. The settlement permanently enjoined them from operating any cemetery corporation in the state of Kansas.

Anstaett said a similar settlement was also reached in March 2009 with Graham & Associates involving a Lawrence, Kansas, cemetery.

More than 60 complaints about West Lawn Memorial were investigated by the Kansas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division. The official findings included in the settlement noted the cemetery “failed to provide Kansas consumers with products ordered,” including markers, memorials and headstones.

In a January 2009 news release provided by Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s spokesman Pamela Weaver, Hosemann said his office and the state attorney general were pursuing litigation against several pre-need funeral providers.

Included in the lawsuit was Green Acres Memorial Park of Vicksburg, Miss., owned by Graham & Associates. In the release, Hosemann said his office’s investigation indicated 80-100 people paid Green Acres for pre-need services that were still to be provided.

“We are conducting an extensive investigation of Green Acres’ records,” Weaver said. “A lot of times when these things happen, we have to become very proactive to obtain that information.”

A Feb. 12 preliminary injunction motion by Hosemann’s office against Green Acres, approved by a Warren County, Miss. judge, prohibited it from writing, selling or soliciting any new pre-need contracts.

n T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5540.

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